Tipping devices and methods for catheters are well known in the art. Such devices and methods employ a variety of features in order to meet a variety of different catheter tipping needs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,300 discloses a method and apparatus for flashless tipping of an I.V. catheter. I.V. catheters are frequently used to nourish patients by injecting glucose, saline and like solutions directly into their veins. I.V. catheters are not high precision catheters. In this regard, methods and devices for tipping I.V. catheters are chiefly directed to efficiency, simplicity of production method, and high production output.
For other applications such as arterial catheters or other surgical catheters, precision manufacture and repeatable accuracy of manufacture are the primary goals.
Precision manufacture, however, is difficult or impossible with prior art methods and devices which comprise air and other fluid cylinders, and a.c. motors and belts to advance the catheter into a die. Tipping dies are typically heated with RF heaters. Further, repeatable accuracy of manufacture resulting in nearly identical catheters is similarly difficult or impossible with prior art methods and devices. There exists, therefore, a present need for devices and methods for the high precision and repeatably accurate tipping of catheters, especially arterial and other surgical catheters.